1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of natural energy. More particularly, the invention relates to wind driven cavity turbines.
2. Related Art
There exist numerous types of natural energy driven devices. In the field of wind driven devices, the most common type of device is the windmill. The windmills typically include a plurality of blades or foils and operate on a principle by which air current forces rotation of the blades when properly disposed into a wind current. Here lies a basic flaw in windmills. Particularly, they must be directed into the wind current in order to operate. Some windmills have utilized tails in order to orient the blades into the wind current. However, these designs require a relatively significant amount of wind in order to achieve proper orientation and operation.
Also, wind turbine machines of various designs have been previously proposed for use in converting wind energy to electrical energy. Machines of the type utilizing a plurality of exposed blades rotating about a horizontal axis are in commercial use in a number of different locations. Many such designs lack sufficient structural integrity under heavy wind conditions.
Prior wind turbines typically utilize a rotor which is rotatable about a vertical axis. The rotor normally includes a plurality of blades. Also, pluralities of stationary wind deflectors or wind-directing blades have been used around the rotor to deflect air toward the rotor blades. The typical wind deflectors are generally planar or slightly curved devices which are vertically oriented and are positioned around the perimeter of the rotor.
The prior commonly owned invention U.S. Ser. No. 09/617,358 disclosed an improvement over the art by providing a cavity vertical turbine. Even with these improvements, there continues to remain a need to improve the manner in which we harvest the wind as a natural resource. It is desired that there be a wind driven system which is operational without requiring orientation to face an existing prevailing wind current and which is safely operably disposable in severe wind conditions. Accordingly, the present invention aims to provide such a system.
It is an object to improve wind driven energy producing devices.
It is another object to provide a cavity vertical turbine.
It is yet another object to provide a wind driven turbine which is operably safe at relatively high winds.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a cavity vertical turbine which aims to meet the aforesaid objectives. The cavity vertical turbine includes a rotatably driven electric generator or air compressor, a drive shaft operably connected to the electric generator or air compressor to cause rotation thereof, a first member having a cavity surface and being connected to the shaft such that the cavity surface opposes the drive shaft in a spaced relation therefrom, a second member having a cavity surface and being connected to the shaft such that the cavity surface opposes the drive shaft in a spaced relation therefrom, and wherein the cavity surfaces are further characterized to be in opposing partially overlapping relation to one another. Suspending supports are provided for the first member and the second member in a manner which permits freedom of movement between an operable and inoperable position by virtue of forces of air current directed at said members.
The first and second members can be, for example, hemispherical or hemi-cylindrical. The cavity surfaces overlap in a manner such that surface area overlapping portions of the cavity surfaces are less than surface area of non-overlapping portions of cavity surfaces.
Further, the drive shaft is movably connected at one end in a manner to permit the cavity members a degree of freedom of movement from a normally vertically disposed position toward a horizontal position. Thus, in severely extreme wind conditions which can occur in a hurricane or the like, the cavity members are caused to be driven toward a horizontal position and by connections to the drive shaft cause the shaft to correspondingly move into the horizontal position.
Other objects and advantages will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon viewing the drawings and reading the detailed description hereafter.